Saturday, August 13, 2011

The HP Touchpad that’s been available in the US since July finally has a release date of August 15th in Australia. Following it’s permanent price drop in the US, the Australian release price will also be $100 cheaper than first indicated. Harvey Norman will be the initial exclusive retail partner.

16GB Wifi $ 499AU 32GB Wifi $599AU 64GB Wifi $699AU

Note: HN is offering a bonus prepaid 3G wifi modem router with min 4GB of data with purchase until 11 Sept or until sold out.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

HTC announced a “strategic partnership and investment” in audio technology company Beats Electronics, stating that “the two fast-growing brands will focus on bringing high performance sound to HTC phones.” While the official announcement was short on details, HTC’s investor website confirmed the acquisition of a 51 percent stake of the company via its HTC America arm. Numerous reports put a price tag of US$300 million on the deal.

Beats Electronics is best known for its Beats by Dr Dre brand. HTC said the partnership will see “a line of HTC devices integrated with Beats sound innovations, available this fall [autumn].”

In an interview with All Things D, Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, said that the deal should “help create an emotional connection to HTC’s brand.” HTC is not the first technology company to work with Beats Electronics: a deal is also in place with HP for its notebook computers, which HTC said will remain in place after its investment.

HTC has made several acquisitions in recent months, bolstering both its technology capabilities (and its patent portfolio) and extending its presence beyond devices.

Last week it acquired US-based mobile internet applications company Dashwire for US$18.5 million, and earlier this year it acquired UK-based content delivery company Saffron Media Group for 30 million brittish pounds. It has also invested US$10 million investment in Chinese digital music service provider KKBOX, and US$40 million in cloud gaming company OnLive.

Beats Electronics was founded in 2006, and was described as “the brainchild of legendary artist and producer Dr Dre” and Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. The company set out to develop “a new type of headphone with the capability to reproduce the full spectrum of sound that musical artists and producers hear in professional recording studios.” It will continue to operate autonomously.

The GSMA has announced that Anne Bouverot (pictured) from France Telecom Orange is to become the association’s new head, effective September 1. Bouverot was most recently executive vice president of mobile services for the Paris-headquartered operator and has served on the board of the GSMA for the past two years.

Bouverot replaces long-standing CEO Rob Conway, who announced his resignation in June. However, Bouverot will not assume the label of CEO, instead taking the title of the GSMA’s Director General.

The reason for this switch, says the GSMA, is because the association’s board and its chairman (Franco Bernabè) wanted the GSMA's new leader’s title to “fully reflect the GSMA’s role as an association representing the interests of its members.” The association noted that the ‘Director General’ title is widely used as the highest executive officer within many industry associations and other organisations. “This is the case for IATA, the body which represents the airline industry, for example,” it stated.

Prior to her most recent role at France Telecom Orange Bouverot was responsible for international business development at the carrier, and her achievements include the privatisation of Telkom Kenya, new mobile licences in Armenia and Tunisia, and partnerships in Portugal and UAE. Before France Telecom Orange, she led a 600-person business unit of Equant and was responsible for developing IT services for Equant’s multinational business customers. She began her career in telecommunications as project manager for Telmex in Mexico in 1991.

“I am deeply honoured by the trust placed in me by the GSMA Board. The GSMA has played an important role in the development of the mobile industry, uniting the world behind a standard technology and ensuring seamless and interoperable mobile services for billions of users globally,” commented Ms. Bouverot in a prepared statement. “We are now entering a new phase, where virtually everyone and everything is connected by mobile, and with many new challenges facing the industry. I am looking forward to leading the GSMA to help and support its operator members to face these challenges and continue their development.”

Based on HTML5, Kindle Cloud Reader optimizes for the platform you're using and automatically stores your latest book locally for offline readingInstant Books - no waiting for a download, start reading the book immediately, offline or online

For over two years, Amazon has been offering a wide selection of free Kindle reading apps that enable customers to "Buy Once, Read Everywhere." Customers can already read Kindle books on the largest number of the most popular devices and platforms, including Kindles, iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, PCs, Macs, Android phones and tablets, and BlackBerrys.

Today, Amazon.com announced Kindle Cloud Reader, its latest Kindle reading application that leverages HTML5 and enables customers to read Kindle books instantly using only their web browser - online or offline - with no downloading or installation required. As with all Kindle apps, Kindle Cloud Reader automatically synchronizes your Kindle library, as well as your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights for all of your Kindle books, no matter how you choose to read them. Kindle Cloud Reader with its integrated touch optimized Kindle Store is available starting today for Safari on iPad, Safari on desktop and Chrome at http://www.amazon.com/cloudreader.

"We are excited to take this leap forward in our 'Buy Once, Read Everywhere' mission and help customers access their library instantly from anywhere," said Dorothy Nicholls, Director, Amazon Kindle. "We have written the application from the ground up in HTML5, so that customers can also access their content offline directly from their browser. The flexibility of HTML5 allows us to build one application that automatically adapts to the platform you're using - from Chrome to iOS. To make it easy and seamless to discover new books, we've added an integrated, touch optimized store directly into Cloud Reader, allowing customers one click access to a vast selection of books."

Features of Kindle Cloud Reader include:

An immersive view of your entire Kindle library, with instant access to all of your books

Start reading over 950,000 Kindle books instantly within your browser

An embedded Kindle Store optimized for your web browser makes it seamless to discover new books and start reading them instantly

New Kindle Store for iPad is built from the ground up for iPad's touch interface

Your current book is automatically made available for offline use, and you can choose to save a book for reading offline at any time

Receive automatic software updates without the need to download new software

Select any book to start reading, customize the page layout to your desired font size, text color, background color, and more

View all of the notes, highlights, and bookmarks that you've made on other Kindle apps or on Kindle

Sync your last page read across your Kindle and free Kindle apps so you can always pick up where you left off

Kindle Cloud Reader is available for Safari on iPad, Safari on desktop and Chrome starting today. Kindle Cloud Reader on the iPad is optimized for the size and unique touch interface of iPad. Without even leaving the app, customers can start shopping in the Kindle Store and will find a unique and immersive shopping experience built specifically for iPad's Safari browser.

Kindle Cloud Reader will be available on additional web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, the BlackBerry PlayBook browser, and other mobile browsers, in the coming months.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle, Kindle 3G, Kindle with Special Offers, Kindle 3G with Special Offers and Kindle DX are the revolutionary portable readers that wirelessly download books, magazines, newspapers, blogs and personal documents to a crisp, high-resolution electronic ink display that looks and reads like real paper. Kindle 3G, Kindle 3G with Special Offers and Kindle DX utilize the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so users never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Kindle is the #1 bestselling product across the millions of items sold on Amazon.

As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

@angelablair58 Be sure to follow us for news about TouchPad editing, which should be available soon :-)

Good news for enterprise, business and small business users, bloggers and consumers who would like to edit Word and Excel documents. Not confirmed yet if the Power Point presentations will be editable , as well.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An experimental unmanned hypersonic glider has been launched from an air base on the central California coast.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency used Twitter to announce the launch Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

A rocket carried the agency's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 to the edge of space, where it separated from the booster to maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph. Minutes into the flight, the agency said the mission was on track in its glide phase. The mission will end with a plunge into the ocean.

A similar vehicle was launched last year and returned nine minutes of data before contact was prematurely lost.

The U.S. military is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater.

In this undated artist's rendition released by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) showing the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2).

The Falcon HTV-2 is an unmanned, rocket-launched, maneuverable aircraft that glides through the Earth’s atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds, Mach 20 (approximately 13,000 miles per hour).

The hypersonic glider is scheduled for launch atop a Minotaur rocket on Wednesday Aug.10,2011 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Hypersonic Test Vehicle-2 is an experiment in extremely high speed flight technologies by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (AP Photo/DARPA)

Voxofon is the only VoIP international calling provider offering dedicated applications for all major smartphone platforms, according to a Nielson study- “Manufacturer operating system share – smartphones.”

The reportindicates that Android, iPhone, BlackBerry Windows Phone 7 and HP Palm webOS were the five leading operating systems comprising 98% of the US smartphone market i.n the three month period ending June 2011.

Voxofon emphasizes its commitment to the growing market as a whole and not just the most popular or profitable smartphones. The company notes that this is important because the new users select their handset based on individual preferences and not market share.

"You are no longer bound to any particular place or communication device. Voxofon makes international calling cross platform," said Alexey Goloshubin , president of Voxofon. "We at Voxofon are concerned about our customers' flexibility: people change their devices and places of living, and Voxofon will always be there for them, no matter what phone our clients are currently using."

Voxofon services offer a range of features and including simplicity, affordability, quality, security and efficient customer support.

The company has allowed calling abroad from any phone exceptionally easy. Calling is also very affordable because Voxofon prices start at a penny per minute.

Voxofon claims it always uses reliable, high quality routes for connecting calls abroad and also protects information so that users can make calls abroad safely. Also, it offers timely resolution of any customer issue or concern.

Q1 2011 Apple first by a hair over Samsung,Nokia third,RIM and HTC follow them.

The 1Q 2011 smartphones market share was taken by Apple in the first place with a little more than 20 millions units shipped, just a hair over Samsung. Nokia dropped to the third place and continuos the way down. RIM is in the fourth position and HTC fifth.

Do you remember LG'x Xnote P220 ultrathin notebook? You know, the one that was first shown off during the Computex 2011 exhibition that took place in early June this year? Well, it turns out that LG is now finally ready to release the aforementioned notebook for sale, with the Korean electronics company officially announcing the availabiliy of the Xnote P220 for its domestic market.

Not much detail about the Xnote P220 has been publicly revealed by LG, although the Korean electronics company has claimed in its press release that notebook, which is reportedly designed to be the successor to the Xnote P210 series of ultrathin notebooks, will make use of a 12.5-inch LED-illuminated IPS LCD display, although it did not provide any details about the display's native resolution.

In addition, the machine translation of LG's press release has indicated that the Xnote P220 will be bundled with Intel's second generation Intel Core i5 processor, and that the notebook's graphics crunching muscle will be provided by the Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU that is built into Intel's processor. Once again, LG has apparently not released any details about the processor, such as its clock speed and model number, that was used in the assembly of the Xnote P220 ultrathin notebook, although it has stated that the notebook will make use of a 128GB solid-state drive in order to achieve faster data read/write speeds, and will sport various standard features such as a HDMI port and a dedicated USB charging port.

Last but defintely not least, LG has claimed that it was able to further reduce the notebook's display bezel to a width of no more than 9.5mm, while its maximum thickness and weight have been trimmed down to 20.9mm and 1.3kg respectively.

No information about the Xnote P220's pricing has been released by LG yet.

A quick look at the new Samsung Galaxy R Android phone, powered by the Tegra 2 dual-core processor.

Samsung's GALAXY smartphones are among the world's most popular handheld devices. The new GALAXY R gives more consumers the opportunity to enjoy the never-before-seen experiences enabled by Tegra. The Galaxy R features a GeForce™ GPU for fast Web browsing with hardware-accelerated Adobe Flash Player support, full HD video and console-quality gaming.

A replay of the audio webcast will be available at the same website shortly after the call and will remain available for approximately one year.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

HP today announced a range of upgrades for its MagCloud content publishing web service, enabling publishers to reach an even broader audience.

Announced on the third birthday of MagCloud, new features include a smaller digest size for publications, a simplified publishing process and a new MagCloud application for the HP TouchPad:

MagCloud Digest is a new compact publication format that, at 5.5-inches wide and 8.5-inches tall, gives publishers more flexibility to create magazines, portfolios, workbooks, catalogs and more in an ultraportable print format.

With the streamlined publishing process, users simply select a product type, name the publication and upload a PDF to easily and quickly start publishing targeted content in both print and digital formats.

MagCloud Newsstand app for HP Touchpad uses functionality unique to webOS to bring publications to life. Features include a reader optimized for the HP TouchPad, in-application purchase of digital publications and a reading library – all of which can be easily navigated using gestures and webOS features. The app is planned to be available in the HP App Catalog in the fall.

“We really focus on listening to our customers, and with their feedback we’ve been able to continually innovate and improve MagCloud’s services and user experience,” said Andrew Bolwell, chief MagClouder, HP. “We look forward to offering publishers and small businesses more choice in how they create and distribute their targeted content, via an array of print and digital formats.”

To help celebrate its third birthday, MagCloud has launched a new Facebook photo gallery where publishers can share with fans the back-story of their MagCloud publications through an image and brief description. The latest MagCloud news and special deals available for the celebration are available by following MagCloud on Twitter or liking MagCloud on Facebook.

How MagCloud works

Invented by HP Labs, the company’s central research arm, MagCloud is a self-service publishing platform that empowers businesses and magazine publishers alike to easily turn targeted content into professional-quality publications, printed on demand, shipped globally, and available in both print and digital format.

With HP MagCloud, users can publish and distribute a consumer magazine, business portfolio, company brochure, customer newsletter, product catalog or any document that serves their needs without a minimum order or cost barrier. MagCloud takes a customer’s materials from PDF to printed publication in just three days.

Users can browse the MagCloud digital storefront, order the latest issue of their favorite publication and have it printed on demand and delivered directly to their doorstep, or download for reading on their digital device of choice. All content is printed to order using HP Indigo technology, delivering professional print quality with no waste or overruns, while reducing the impact on the environment.

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure at the convergence of the cloud and connectivity, creating seamless, secure, context-aware experiences for a connected world. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

A few bloggers and friends asked if I can make a video about the HP Touchpad performance since I overclocked the device to 1.5Ghz. This is the wifi only base model. Also the 3.02 webOS update was installed recently.

From your TouchPad unconnected install Govnah and the UberKernel from webOS internals. As a backup I would suggest installation of webOS Doctor.WebOS Internals developed Govnah for webOS about two years ago.

The application has been tested and proven to be stable. However, please understand that this may void your warranty and there's always the possibility of overheating and damaging your device.

Battery Life: I haven't seen any significant difference in power consumption. Make note that a faster processor could mean that you spend less time getting work done and you may not see a difference in battery drain. But if you watch a movie for hours on end that may be another story.

AT&T inked a deal to launch DeNA’s Mobage social gaming platform, stating that “Mobage will serve as a hub for AT&T Android users to discover and play games, as well as connect and communicate with other players around the world.”

The deal is said to be the first between ngmoco, the DeNA subsidiary behind Mobage, and a US operator. Details of the launch were not revealed, but Ted Woodbery, VP of Wireless Data, Voice and Ancillary Services at AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, said that it looks forward to “giving our Android customers access to the rich Mobage gaming catalogue later this year.”

The announcement follows shortly after DeNA announced the launch of Mobage for China and “English speaking markets . It said that more than 100 games are already being developed for the platform, with the company working with third-party developers to bring products to market as well as crating its own titles. The platform is currently in a “beta” release for the North American market.

DeNA/ngmoco is not AT&T’s only partner for mobile social games. The company is also working with Zynga , which is best known for its Facebook games, but which is looking to build its mobile.

Telefonica opened its BlueVia developer platform in Germany, stating that “software companies in Germany can register as a developer for BlueVia and O2 customers can download the first BlueVia apps on their smartphones.”

The operator will give developers a share of the revenue generated by the addition of network features into apps, for example via SMS or MMS integration, which could be “as much as 20 percent,” in addition to the standard revenue share for app sales. Michiel van Eldik (pictured), MD of Wholesale and Partner Management at Telefonica Germany, said: “With BlueVia, software developers can develop smartphone apps as well as web services and desktop applications, and soon they'll be able to offer them to most of the 295 million Telefonica customers worldwide.”

The operator said that the first BlueVia apps for desktop, the web and smartphones are already appearing, for example via the Android Market and Windows Phone 7. It notes that the integration of network service into apps is “recommended for smaller companies in particular,” because larger developers have already been able to access mobile operator services via other interfaces. In order to do this, however, “long-term contracts and a sizeable minimum volume were required when sending SMS, for example.”

Through the launch of BlueVia, small developers and individuals can use the same services “without any complications.”

Telefonica Germany said that in “just a few weeks” it will be providing “even more” interfaces for its network. It highlighted that in addition to app sales, developers can “achieve additional sales for many years” through the use of SMS messages, advertising in apps, and other Telefonica-derived earnings.

Motorola Mobility announced its XT531 handset, which it describes as a “budget-friendly Android smartphone.” It will be available this month in China, with launches planned for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and “select countries in Europe and Latin America” later this year. XT531 has a 3.5-inch touch screen, dual cameras, and “all the social networking you want.”

webOS 3.0.2

HP webOS system update 3.0.2 provides increased system performance and stability and addresses a number of bugs.

HP webOS system update 3.0.2 offers improvements in the following areas.

Core applications

Calendar

Quicker Just Type event search and event creation

Improved handling of meeting cancellations

Email

Faster scrolling

Improved message content and image display

Improved management of multiple emails in Draft and Outbox views

Music

Reduced audio skipping when the device is running other applications

Better display of album art

Photos & Videos

Added ability to set wallpapers

Faster and more reliable handling of individual photos and albums

Text Assist

Improved speed and accuracy of auto-corrections

Web

Increased scrolling support compatibility within web pages

Improved performance of remote HTML5 video playback

Improved responsiveness of auto correction within the browser

webOS System

Fixed issues with oversensitive screen rotation

Security

This release addresses a number of security issues with HP webOS software.
Individuals interested in contacting HP to report suspected security issues can find more information at hpwebos.com/security .

An over-the-air webOS update for all TouchPads is now available, automatically upgrading your TouchPad to webOS 3.0.2. This update brings performance and reliability enhancements, and also adds improved functionality to several core webOS apps. Many of these updates came about as a result of direct feedback from our customers, which we always appreciate. (In addition to posting your comments here, we hear your comments on Twitter and other social media channels, and we welcome your feedback here.)
A few highlights from the hundreds of improvements included in the update:

The Email app offers faster scrolling and improved image rendering, as well as improved management of multiple emails in Draft and Outbox views

You can now set your wallpaper from photos in the Photos app

In the Calendar app, you'll notice improvements in layout, searching for events with Just Type, and more

Can't live without "can't"? You'll appreciate enhancements in autocorrection of contractions.

You can find more information about how over-the-air updates work here. More details about the webOS 3.0.2 update can be found here.